By Asia Samachar | Canada |
Jagmeet Singh, easily one of the most prominent Sikh political leaders outside India, plans to step down as leader of the left-wing New Democratic party (NDP) after its poor showing in the just-concluded Canadian general election.
The 46-year-old Jagmeet also lost his seat in Burnaby Central. He first won his seat in Burnaby South in a by-election in 2019 and was re-elected twice before the riding was redistributed to Burnaby Central.
He thanked his wife, Gurkiran Kaur, who shared the stage with him as he spoke to his staff and party volunteers, telling them that he would step down as soon as an interim leader could be appointed.
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“We may lose sometimes. And those losses hurt. But we are only defeated if we stop fighting. Let’s keep fighting, together,” he said in the speech, struggling at times to keep his emotions in check.
Jagmeet became the first ethnic minority politician to lead a major federal party in Canada when he won the NDP leadership in 2017.
In the campaign, the former human rights activist ran on pledges to forgive student loan debt, to drastically reduce Canada’s carbon emissions and to ensure universal prescription drug coverage.
Jagmeet was born in Scarborough, Ontario, a city in the Greater Toronto Area, to Indian immigrants from the state of Punjab.
He never shied away from his Sikh faith, which he professed openly. In one of the videos some years ago, you see unwrapping his turban, combing his long hair and then tying back his turban, all on video for everyone to see. Now, that is not something that many Sikhs would have the courage to do openly.
In his conceding speech, Jagmeet talked about Sikh values that guided him in his actions.
“I’ve often spoken of a lesson my mother shared with me: The Sikh teaching of Chardi Kala. It means ‘rising spiritis’. Optimism over struggle. This is the spirit I carry tonight,” he said.
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